INTRODUCTION

Japanese cities, particularly coastal ones, have been characterized as places for increasing, supporting and continuing economic growth and development aimed at the national goal of "catching up with and surpassing the West" and not as spaces for safe and healthy human living. (Hayakawa, 1983) What is referred to here is the post war concentration of the nation's industrial facilities along the Pacific Coast wherein emphasis was placed upon the prospect of economic growth as a benefit of urban density and less upon the evils of crowding. This coastal region on the east coast is known as the Tokaido Megalopolis; an area where factors behind the concentration of population are not simply economic but also historical, geographical and human. In this setting, it is not too far reaching to consider that the use of urban parks might also reflect and be based upon the mutual ambitions of progress and resourceful use of land which has shaped the urban environment in Japan.

Japan was officially opened to international trade as it is spoken of, just over 100 years ago, and from this event has stemmed a comparative consciousness of other countries on many levels. That period has been the subject of much research and analysis because cultural importation was a major impetus for the rapid transformation of Japan into an industrial nation. Public gathering places associated with outdoor recreation in Japanese cities of the nineteenth century had various origins and were expressive of the physical, social and cultural environment. Street markets, shrine and temple precincts, government sponsored fireworks, and events on military grounds and imperial property, popularized scenic areas and view points, private gardens opened to the public and spaces established to mitigate fire and floods were the type of areas precedent to public parks in Japan. The establishment of urban parks and green space formed with a developing interest in modernization during this period of cultural transformation for which the modern parks of cities in Western countries provided an example for the public park idea in Japan.

The era of parks in Japan began with the growth of industrial cities. In this century the events of war had significant influence on the urban environment in Japan making modern history as dramatic as the climate of the Japanese islands. How changing urban conditions have shaped park history and the role of urban parks in Japan is the inquiry of this study.